Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Covid-19 (Transport and Travel): Statements

 

2:35 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My advice to constituents with questions as to whether they should travel home now is not to travel. If the question is when might be best, the answer is not now if there is a choice. ISIF funding is a matter for the Department of Finance. It is financially independent borrowing based on a contract arrangement with the company. The Government set up the fund to make sure we protected jobs and did not lose them but the specifics of the loan contract is a matter for the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, and ISIF in its funding.

The regional roads programme has been signed off and local authorities will get details of that. I had a meeting this morning with Kildare County Council and I can say that the Athy distributor road is also proceeding.

I want to come back to the issue of Moyross because Deputy Quinlivan and others referred to it. When I was talking about pedestrian access, it is not just via the distributor road dual carriageway. This is for the entire community, and not just for that community but for all the local communities, particularly those in South Hill and the other areas the Deputy mentioned. We need to provide good-quality local connectivity and local ability to walk between estates or to have easy access to the shops, to school and to college. That is the critical issue. I was working with the council on this to ensure we get the entire transport plan right, not only to think about the infrastructure but also about people being able to move from one place to another very easily.

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